A sickroom hush, a holiday glow
Whither thou goest I will go
Whither thou wish inside,
We will follow
It is to be on one thing only
On the road to God knows where
Some are happy, some are late and
Those wish death upon themselves
Here is law, it is spoken in a growl choked
Her paws have strayed in her sleeve
And in my mouth her cloak
The claws swift deny themselves a shallowness
Which recalled the television or the room alone
In which they preened unmoving fours
My loving tongue
Convolutions may arise
The skull is echoing with webs
And the third wave flushed the thing out
Everybody jump and shout
Scream my name above the din,
Above the engine's carnal din
Above the calves who bleed their lungs out
Don't you know that i work hard
Don't you know that i play hard
Don't you know it's a hard way
Trace the buslines in the state
Don't you know that i see aah she'd strip for me
Well we're moving around
Me 'n she how the grass barn coming down
And we do it the same
In the name of glory, filth, and fame
Things are going ok find a little puppy love makes a day
Once in the morning and once at night ah
Don't you know that i work hard
Don't you know that i play hard
Don't you know it's a hard way
Trace the buslines in the state
Don't you know that i see aah she'd strip for me
Me and frankie we cried some evenings outside where we lie
When another one comes will we go the night into the sun
Sewed a couple of new
Times like that's the only thing to do oh
Once in the morning and once at night
Oh you know that i work hard
Don't you know that i play hard
Don't you know it's a hard way
Trace the buslines in the state
You know that i see aah she'd strip for me ah
In a small far room the bed is set
With trinkets all surrounding
Yet lone it rests, so dry it sets
With souls aside abiding
There moves legs warm and close inside
No, no leg braces a hello
And pictures on walls where paint is lame
Where sinks are friendly running
Reflect, reflect metal cast
My toe has long been swollen
My knees are blue, my eyes are too
My love has not forgotten
Will come, will come, o he will come
And make me have a baby
Then I foresee we all, us three, will ride and all together
The hills have eyes, their trees have lives
Disjointed like a hero
No saga told, no things unfold
To make the ride much finer
The length is fine, his hand in mine
Does someone hear our chatter
A lover's laugh, a bleeding calf
If I could fuck a mountain
Lord, I would fuck a mountain
And I'd do it with a woman in the valley
If she lives in the valley
O, if she lives in the valley
The mighty, mighty valley of the sun
Yes, if she lives there quietly
And goes to bed there nightly
I'd tower over peaks and in the sky
Well, she comes tumbling to me
It seems every night there for me
With a different face and legs that will not quit
Now I'm waiting on a friend
To give me advice if I ask him
And his presence will tell me what I need to know
I would sell my belongings
In the mountains where she's living
God is the answer
God is the answer
God is the answer
God lies within
And you can't say
That I didn't learn from you
And you can't say
That I didn't learn from you
And you can't say
That I didn't learn from you
And you can't say
That I didn't learn from you
God is the answer
God is the answer
God is the answer
God lies within
And I will not have a good time
But leave me just the same
The statue marks the place here
Where Pushkin stook his claim
God is the answer
God is the answer
God is the answer
God lies within
And I guess that
She couldn't tell me
Because she found it
Very frightening
And though a lead slug
Would have felled me
Many lights up today
Many lights up this way
What is this road here,
Where have I come?
I am a rich man
I am a very rich man
I have good pants on
Stitched and stitched;
I am in stitches
I am laughing at you
I am in britches
I've written books for you
I held my own for you
Where is my tongue?
I am no more workhorse
I am no more workhorse
I am no more workhorse
I am no more workhorse
I am a grazing horse
I am a grazing horse
There's a black tinted sunset with the prettiest of skies
Lay back,lay back, rest your head on my thighs
There is some awful action that just breathes from my hand
Just breaths from a deed so exquisetly grand
And you are always on my mind x4
Well, I would not have moved if I knew you were here
Its some special action with motives unclear
Now you'll haunt me, you'll haunt me
Till I've paid for what I've done
It's a payment which precludes the having of fun
And you are always on mind x4
But hello, I've got a new partner riding with me
I'v got a new partner, hello
Now the sun's fading faster, we're ready to go
There's a skirt in the bedroom that's pleasantly low
And the loons on the moor, the fish in the flow
And my friends, my friends still will whisper hello
We all know what we know, it's a hard swath to mow
When you think like a hermit you forget what you know
And you are always on my mind x4
I've got a new partner, riding with me x3
Mention of the stars reduce us back,
They, about them, have time's things hanging;
We are around near the railroad track
Checking out the thundering.
Names you call could have been ours
To call and live among them;
Friends come by and spend some hours
And then back down to working...
At night, things come and half a life,
Not so silly walking,
All different clothes in the half light
And a halting way of talking.
There really was one way to be,
Yet this is not it, we think,
To be such younger folk as we
Not levelled as we drink
We're busted up, so ragged down
And kissing and subsisting;
Our eyes glint wild and roll around
And the dog, he whines insisting,
He asks that we allow the sex
To make us unrecognizable;
That we allow slow violence
I send my love to you.
I send my hands to you.
I send my clothes to you.
I send my nose to you.
I send my trees to you.
I send my pleas to you.
Won't you send some back to me?
Send your ways to me.
Send your call to me.
Send you days to me.
Send it all to me.
And when I'm high and square,
When i would have you there,
You will be...
The moon is falling.
My wounds are calling.
My head is bleeding.
And I'm a duck.
The lake is cracking.
It hears me quacking.
Fuck the land, and two if by me.
Send your ways to me.
Send your call to me.
Send your days to me.
Send it all to me.
And when i'm high and square,
When i would have you there,
I am a cineomatographer (x4)
And I walked away from New York City
And I walked away from everything that's good
And I walked away from everything I leaned on
Only to find it's made of wood
I was a big ol' bear once (x4)
And I walked away from California
And I walked away from everything that's known
And I walked away from everything I lived for
Only to find that everything had grown
I am a cineomatographer (x4)
If you were alone
The blessed grace of waking up
Of breathing in the sheets
And hello to you, at the window
Hello to you
Down the hill I'd like to take you
To where I shot a little deer,
My little dear I'd like to take you down there
Rinsing out the iron cup
To have a glass of wine
To have an iron cup of wine
Dear, to drink it down there
A drunken pair
Goodbye, despair
One night is 'til one morning
And one sad night
He held me by
And held me until it was morning
And once the temperature did fall
Goodnight to Father, Mother
My bambina was all in for a while
All is grace tonight to you
And tomorrow we will be,
And tomorrow we shall see,
When you have no one,
No one can hurt you
When you have no one,
No one can hurt you
In the corners there is light
That is good for you
And behind you, I have warned you,
There are awful things
Will you miss me
When I burn, and will you eye me
With a longing
It is longing that I feel
To be missed for, to be real
When you have no one,
No one can hurt you
When you have no one,
No one can hurt you
Will you miss me
When I burn,
And will you close
The others' eyes, it would be
Such a favor
If you would blind them
There is absence, there is lack
There are wolves here abound
You will miss me
When I turn around
When you have no one,
No one can hurt you
When you have no one,
what if it didn't come back
this is how the hard one takes it.
puts her arms around his neck,
and squeezes gently as if to break it.
she's gonna miss everything about it,
but what's best in her is the bottom has stopped.
then again what's worse get's better
to messing with what, substantial, dropped.
crazy woman misleads by staring
blankly at the wall above you.
never in a hundred times will she try to pretend
to love you all week always
you or she must convert or hide time
from one to the other and into another
at the ? ground ?
her coldness commands anything further.
there's a black cloud having made it go so.
so you hooked (?) her on the arm.
ripped her shoulders and split her back
and push her quietly forward.
? stuff ? your thumb in it, you,
take however long you want
I will be here when you haunt
you can wait here forever
by the trees alone
and I won't be sorry when you're gone
take however long you need
as times will wait around to be
something tall and black and glamorous
like about what you would dream
but you won't be hanging round with me
when you're about to go away
lie when they look you in the face
laugh and make jokes
like the others do
and at night I will be hanging out with you
I will be here
when you need to leave
where were the rapist when I was a child ?
they were my neighbors,
that's why I'm so wild
where were the drunkards that shot with teir guns ?
and closed the shops early so we could have fun ?
where were the women who spread the disease
who spread love so freely
ans so spread their knees
they went to the southside to make their own laws
away from the knawing of innocent laws
lord they went to the southside and we must go too
if we want our freedom it's what we must do
if we want happy families it's what we must do
give me donkey ears !
give me honkey tears !
give me black blood !
and that of queers !
to mix with my own
come with me to the southside where we'll make our home
Cow-call, and they were all calling together
Describing the way to go
I never hurt someone so young
And I never held someone so sweet
Makes me want to holler with them
All the way down
All the way down
Their voices show the way
How to hold it back
See the end of the day
Shut their mouths, shut their mouths
And rip the pictures down
Withdraw, withdraw, you live so far from town
This is what makes a thing last
Won't make what didn't happen go
Take fear and call it lust
Let me go lay in the snow
I cannot rest
With so many singing so many songs
And what a way of singing
Their voices are bringing trees to their knees
With nothing to say when they're speaking
They're quiet, the choir, their voices go higher
leave me alone is all that I say
when I have nothing in me to give away
a purple martin in her house, she hollers at me
why be inhuman ? why be like me ?
chorus:
like so many robins, like so many doves
like so many lovebirds with so many loves
like the songs of the bobwhite
without any words
when we are inhuman we're one with the birds
at six in the morning you rise from the pillow
stand steaming above me; I slumber below
I'm one with the blanket laying fragrant and loose
you're one with a whipporwill,
you're one with a goose
chorus
so tweet with me and widely spread
your olive wings: embrace my head
fly with me 'til we are dead
and one with the birds
like so many seagulls
like so many hawks
like so many thrushes
and so many cocks
a swallow will tell you without using
misleading
heartrending words
when we are inhuman we're one with the birds
(Will Oldham after Dick Gaughan version)
what's the winter's cold negative press
what's the spring with its air of rebirth
to those felled under wildest duress
trading freedom for a false sense of worth
let the love of our own sacred rites
to the love of our people succeed
let friendship and future unite
and flourish in idea and deed
let the costume distinguish the strong
place riches in lowest esteem
it's for excess that people do wrong
and to liberty honesties lean
letting one minute go on
without seeing yourself with an eye
that is watchful and kindly and strong
look all the press
face in the ground
got undressed
went around town
takin' the clothes
place in the grass
what do you know
coming on fast
chorus:
all day so
they boge in do bo
when you call the name
of they sing or they
I bmal bahl
hope they leave
and fall again
da da d
hail the ga
just ends a love
fall and then rise
tops off to you
gave it again
that's what to do
saving a friend
chorus
(inst.)
chorus
repeat chorus
do what you will do
i will watch with you
though i'm charged to wait awhile
i will wait for you in style
with you as a guide
i stay awhile
watch with me
i won't ask you to be friends with me
nor to stand by and protect
i can't ask you to lay hands on me
just to show me some respect
do what you will do...
and in rough times i can be with you
laying early in my bed
and in time i go to sleep and you
lay a kiss upon my head
do what you will do...
if an end comes it is good to be
in the presence of a few
with a few friends is how it should be
when everything is through
I went down to the ba hoo
where the wed water flow
and as the sill was glad
the fellow buddled uh
way de fade uh guh
way de fade uh guh o
sell me a peach o' the ba ho
ate for the sake of all
and wasted for the love of
olive an an a'
waig an as' a tode
waig an as' a tode o
(inst.)
fame I'd a said all a ba hoo
fame all a nod is a game
a fagen horror
and a low berra don
to fall and raise it on
what's wrong with a zoo
what's wrong with a zoo (2x)
i asked them in
invited them in
oh cordially
sat each one down
down on the couch
so I could see
what's wrong with a zoo
what's wrong with a zoo (2x)
show me some skin
kiss on my chin
and kiss my mouth
i learned the way
to love you today
was to have you down
monkey was maimed
black and white aim
a chimp no more
monkey's last act
had been to attack
a child of four
what's wrong with a zoo
what's wrong with a zoo (2x)
so i pile misdeed
upon misdeed
throw in some love
where i see need of love
an eloquent way
to bring an end
is exit the bay
in graceful swim
a box folds in half
and brings on a laugh
from everyone
who needs to sleep
when sleeping just keeps
our life undone
what's wrong with a zoo
She's my lifeblood, she's my secret share
Always been around this place
And when I call her it's not long before
She comes to where I'm calling from
Do I hate her?
Do I know her just to hate what she does?
Are you jealous of the show we put on
Are you wary? Is there justice?
Is there something which resembles pleasure?
And are you mammals?
Do you eat and drink the same as we do?
Oh, it's okay, not to say
Is there time still? Time to forage
For a decent dinner here where we've settled
Where we've come to call the new century in
And when I wake up, I do not ask her
If she know just where we lay ourselves
It's better that way and so it's this way
That we start our day to day
(And Hereafter)
When's a crime forgiven by them
You can never live again
I can only advise to another
Never, o never forsake your brother
(Chorus:)
And where are my friends
And where is my family
They've all gone away
Though it's I who have left them
I have heard death cry, I have heard him falter
I have heard him lie and escape unscathed
When he comes for me I will fuck him, o
I will waste him in my own way
He is scum, but he wields great glory, o
O to live forever in some oceany glow
Let new life rise in the face of death
Let it rise, let it take in what can't be held
And with life, let me rise, let me stand up high
Let me then decide who all will die
For with me, I'd have all of everyone burn
And the rest suffer death in its own black blur
(Chorus)
Let the others cry, while our voice is still
We will wait, we may lie like wolves in the fields
O hold your throats in silence a while
There is enough noise now from where they are
In the silence lie, in the silence take
O take in the rumor of a passing through
The house will be empty, a house of love
Calling out, there was nothing else for us to do
(Chorus)
And where are the days
I knew what I wanted to do
when I was only three years old
but then they came for the flame
for all the sables o ye doe-hoo
and I found one brace of gold
where I had laid it all the same
but when ye never knew
what fun would do
say hey on the way
chorus:
they said that we would have this solved
the bay's a doll
and we was all a cable'd on
the door was flung awide
and fling t'as fled to fling the tide
but we were set
we didn't have to day'o
we'd a way-o
and shake the sides until
we held upon a biggun daddy
hates to, the song fail on
the gable
ah ee stood ape-hole
chorus
(inst.)
for mind what had it duh
nye was fed and led upon
a coaly lane of all as hauled
to lay it for the bay hoo
O when were you going
I was sewing for a while
say love were you sadie
sadie sadie deals a lie
bolly bolly bolly bolly
bol(d)ly by
he got a legging
and he said it wasn't I
if I saw I guess you dig
it's a labor will it buy
bolly bolly bolly bolly
bolly by
he was a kneeful
was a kneeful
was an eye
sadie sadie sadie sadie
bol(d)ly buy
ess for the beda
basted ada deedle eye
for the way to be hated
is abated audobye
bolly bolly bolly bolly
bolly by
(inst.)
o on the topful
want an awful
way to buy
sadie sadie sadie sadie
Patience
I wasn't born a fisherman
and I wasn't born a schoolgirl
and I wasn't born a tree of leaves
and I wasn't born o lordy lord
cause I was a bold and tireless worker
and I wasn't born an indian
and I wasn't born arabian
and I wasn't born a man with a dream to just let it falter
and I wasn't born o! a welldigger
and I wasn't born o! a fleshy thing
and I wasn't born a thing to be scorned
a thing to be ignored
and I will align myself with nothing
and I will enjoin my heart with no-one's
cause I was untried
when I was applied the light of birth
and I wasn't born o! to tell the truth
and I wasn't born o! to sleep with ruth
we're miles apart
and I have no heart for weeks between coupling
well, i could bide my time with girls that live in town
with those who seem always to be hangeing around
but it would not seem right to pass the night
with one not my true love
and I will align myself with nothing
and I will enjoin my heart with no-one's
cause I was untried
Trouble has caused me so much grief
I am waiting for when I can go home
Time when a room was closer than my friends
And I can get some shooting done
But then I hear a footstep on the stairs
The whole thing shatters and I scream out your name
And you come running
O it is always the same
Time passes and the room goes dark
I expect to see your figure standing naked over me
With a mole on your neck and a wry way of holding
Wide the ceiling of my darkened path
Then we mingle our limbs, I hear all calling
When we swim and we buckle, and I emote
It is the only time to catch it so
So we may as well rest, and let it go
We're gonna be rejoined
And the children will love it
All my brothers and my sisters resting holy above it
Let us wallow, let us play, this is our god's day
When it's time from work to go,
and in my boat I row.
'Cross the muddy Ohio
when the evening light is falling
And I looked towards Floyd's Knobs
where the afterglories flow
And I dream on two bright eyes
with a merry mouth below.
She's my beauteous Catarina,
she's my joy and sorrow too.
Though I know she is untrue,
ah, but I cannot live without her.
For my heart's a boat in tow,
and I'd give the world to know.
If she means to let me go,
as I sing the whole day through.
Catarina your lovely hair,
has more beauty I declare
Than all the tresses there
from Smoketown to Oldham County.
Be they black, red, gold or brown,
let them hang to lenghts below.
They mean not as much to me,
as a melting flake of snow.
And her dance is like the gleam,
of the sunlight on the stream.
And the screeching bluejays seem,
to form her name when screaming.
But my heart is full of woe,
for last night she made me go.
And the tears begin to flow,
And he came by the way that he walked
And he came by the way that he walked
And he came by the way that he walked
And he came by the way that he walked
And he came by the way of a half-million murderers
And he came by the way of a long list of ironies
And he came by the way of the road to Sioux City
And he came by the way of the half-breeds and lesbians
And he came by the way that he walked
And he came by the way that he walked
And he came by the way that he walked
And he came by the way that he walked
And he thought it
Was in there but still wasn't happy,
He knew it was less than the way that it could be
But undaunted unshaven and an eagle in britches he
Set out again to unveil the earth's riches
And he came by the way that he walked
And he came by the way that he walked
And he came by the way that he walked
And he came by the way that he walked
And he came by the way that I said I was leaving,
The way that I'd take if I really was going
If I had a map, that is why I'm delaying
And if it wasn't in there I'd surely be staying
And he came by the way that he walked
And he came by the way that he walked
And he came by the way that he walked
saturday and we sleep late
usually we're up by eight
a swim it calls, a swim awaits
no work to do today
strange how you would stray
and drink and such odd things
this is what the city brings
(doo-doo-doo)
evening calls and old folks fall
the phone is ringing down the hall
i told my friends not to call
that you were getting well
you still refuse to tell
where you'd been out so long
coming home at dawn
(doo-doo-doo)
lately I'm forgotten here
isolated, feeling queer
when you were looking in the mirror
did you see the future's lies
they march right on in time
and straight into the pool
God bless the chaos, I'm ready to go
Made my provisions written my notes
Too bad that folks remain on the earth
To see me deny no to renew my birth
And even my swallow my sweet one of all
Will be angry and bitter and briefly withdraw
For I've done much protecting and hiding of hardness
The awful emotion I never could bear
I was always afraid to reveal what I'm knowing
Like I have a particular kind of thing growing
Indifference, a bosom ally to despair,
Soaks itself in to the skin and the hair
I keep all my cards at my chest without playing
The ones that I knew I was all this time saving
And rarely refered to it rarely gave clues
That I had the deep sickness I tried not to choose
That I had here inside of me a key to self-knowing
So base and respected neglected and flowing
Perversion and what might be called paranoia
Description defies though the concurrent Joya
And every corpuscle and each fold and wrinkle,
Subknuckels, perception of what's within my vision
And hearing distorting and feeling is lying
I dreamed I saw Phil Ochs last night
Alive as you or me
Said, "Howdy Phil. You're fifteen years a-gone"
He said that he had never died
He said that he had never died
Down to my house, I saw him wandering
I said to him, "You've never entered my dreams"
He said, "Why should I ?"
He asked me, "Why should I ?"
"I thought that I had some sort of bond with you"
"You've none of the kind"
"But Phil, why do I feel this way ?"
"You've got an unhealthy mind"
He said that I've got an unhealthy mind
Another boy in lowly days,
As he, to little things was born,
But gathered lore in woodland ways,
And from the glory of the morn.
As wider skies broke on his view
God greatened in his growing mind;
Each year, he dreamed his God anew
And left his older God behind.
He saw the boundless scheme dilate,
In star and blossom, sky and clod;
And as the universe grew great,
Come a little dog
Come a little dog and had a little dog
Come a little dog
Come a little dog and had a little dog
Come a little dog
Come a little dog
Come a little dog and had a little dog,
Come a little dog
Come a little dog and had a little dog
Killed a little cat, and I killed a little dog
Killed a little cat, and I killed a little dog
Come a little dog
Killed a little cat, and I killed a little dog
Woof-woof
Killed a little cat, and I killed a little dog
Woof-woof
Come a little dog
Come a little dog and had a little dog
Come a little dog
Come a little dog and had a little dog
Where did the little dog come from
The little dog came from you
Little black spot on its little brown head
Little dead dog, I love you
Come a little dog
Come a little dog and love a little dog
Come a little dog
Come a little dog and love a little dog
(in parentheses are lines where the live version on the Boxhead Ensemble disc differs)
sweet ill health has hidden from me,
events about which one has no memory.
whether it is to protect or deny
one is not told and one asks not why.
the noise near the trees gathers into a block.
one drinks just to where one is able to talk.
tries to confuse things that surely occurred, (tries to accuse things that really weren't there)
by stretching and acting like one hasn't heard. (by shrugging and acting like one doesn't care)
blank indiscretion and testing of lines
at the end of a farm there to kick it.
to find a young dog, swollen and bald (to find a dead dog swollen and bald)
and to giggle and poke it and stick it.
to sit in the drive and pull a head down,
or to push in the way of an oncoming blow.
to take wine on holidays when no-one's in town
to dislike someone and let them so know.
let it burn out this morning at home. (well, I let it burn out this morning at home)
the stove and the kitchen; the howl and the steam.
and lay on the couch sometimes resting alone
in order to utter a decorative scream
discussed and disgust, and a pretense of light.
persistent denial, waylaid in the night.
ignoring the stupid and hating the silence
disliking the prurient, disdaining the violence.
denying the rice and accepting the drink.
however it comes at the start of a fall.
take it whenever you get it; you think
you're unlucky ever to get it all.
you're rude to the relatives; cold to the friends
unpleasant to god when he comes by the house
one tries to look cross (?) as the storm it begins
balls they come up happy
when I place them in your hand
and I will acknowledge with a cocking of my head
when the faces rise against us
'cause we're moderate or meek
they'll see we've got the only balls of them all
(chorus)
I've got big balls
o I've got big balls
I've got big balls
and they're dirty big balls
and he's got big balls
and she's got big balls
but they're not the only balls of them all
we could be eating pudding
but we'd rather place our balls
in their mouths when they are eating
and let 'em be themselves
well the world is bound to splinter,
still in paris they will cry
"we've got the only balls of them all"
(chorus)
o balls will make you happy
o balls all the time
press your balls against the mirror
now you're pressing them to mine!
well my balls are always bouncing
to the left and to the right
they've found themselves a color
and they peer into the night
once you've mouthed my testicles
you'll know I'm not a liar
I've got great balls of fire
there's a woman i see at a bar that's near me
that catches my eye repeatedly
and so it's ? that i wait until four
when the bar turns its lights out and closes the door
and then i may follow her cautiously home
where she would go walking or stumbling alone
and i can't help but want to see her at her window
and to want to approach her and stand just alone
and i needed so much to have nothing to touch
and i wanted so dear to have nothing so near
and to render the city unbounded and pretty
so to slip in and out of her and then to slip off
goodbye to the city, goodbye to the girl
her room is left standing, her room is my world
and it it she slips into bed without thinking
and i follow closely for i have been drinking
and slip in beside her and she doesn't stir so
i settle up closer and warmer to her
and so the night passes and so the sun comes
as we sleep and we wander on what we have done
and i needed so much to have nothing to touch
and i wanted so dear to have nothing so near
and to render the city unbounded and pretty
Nighttime's the right time to pull all the dimes from your pocket
Nighttime's the right time to climb on the rocket
Nighttime's the right time to pull your shoulder out of its socket
Nighttime's the right time to learn a new language
Cosmonauts flying, cosmonauts dying
You picked a fine time to tell me it was time to find me a new wife
You picked a fine way to tell me that today would be the last day
When is the first day you'll repay the money that you owe me?
A sisterly severance, a cutting of cookies, adios fraternos
When will she run to me?
When will she come to me?
O buenos dias
O buenas noches
No mercy you have shown me
How could a woman with so much to live for have so many children?
When time came to call names she bolted and left me an unlabelled burden
I'm bound to my time like cukes to a new brine, or brawn to an old one
Besides I have no time to explain how I have been feeling
Cosmonauts flying, cosmonauts dying
Astronauts starving, astronauts leaving
No more hospitality, no more hospitals at all
